Mare Liberum is a collection of haiku and tanka by Jacob Salzer inspired by water and the sea. "Jacob Salzer has named this collection of haiku and tanka Mare Liberum which translated from Latin means The Freedom of the Seas. His poems throughout this collection are written with strong undertones of the link between water and humans, our place within this world of water we call Earth. Salzer captures the essence of haiku and tanka, its fluidity like water itself, its lightness (karumi) and its sense of place. This is a fine collection written by a seasoned writer of short form poetry." -Brendon Kent, Head Instructor in English Language Haiku online for Haiku University (Tokyo), Member of The British Haiku Society, Member and English Adjuster for The World Haiku Association Anthologies ""...this is a compass for the soul, leading the reader into gentle places of peaceful contemplation..."" -Michelle Hyatt, Certified Health and Wellness Coach and Yoga/Meditation Teacher

The haiku, tanka and other short verse published in many anthologies are now collected for the first time in one book with beautiful nature color photographs. The humorous and sometimes tragic foibles of human nature in love and aging are also highlighted in many haiku and tanka, more accurately described then as senryu and kyoka. Based on ancient art forms, the short poems in this new work carry a truly modern perspective.

The sights and sounds of the changing seasons, the wonder and mystery of life, the joy and sorrow of love and relationships-you'll find this and much more at the heart of The Calligraphy of Clouds: poems in the form of Tanka & Haiku that resonate with the pulse of everyday living. In the hectic, pressured world we live in, we can easily lose sight of life's inherent depth and beauty. These brief yet profound snapshots of life-both of the outer and inner worlds we live in-have a unique way of putting us back in touch with the extra-ordinary we may otherwise overlook in the ordinary moments of our lives. Contemporary in style yet universal in outlook, this is a book of remarkable range: well-crafted poems that are insightful, sensuous, filled with wit and wisdom-that are at once . of the moment, and beyond the moment. The Calligraphy of Clouds is a book to read slowly, pause, and reflect upon. Allow these poems to stimulate your own wondrous world of thoughts, images, memories, and emotions. You may very well see yourself and the world around you in a whole new light.

haiku, tanka, and sijo

Motherhood, heartbreak, loss, love — even the tangible: vegetables, beaches, forests and salons, oh, I wanted to write about it all! The brevity of form made it possible to cover a stunning range of landscapes — emotional and physical. Like a jigsaw puzzle, I kept arranging, rearranging lines in poems, addicted to that dose of serotonin that washed over me when a haiku or tanka set well. Guavas pop-up here as do sunflowers, nieces and lovers. Playful and brooding, heart-breaking and exultant, these poems strobed in watercolor art, revel as much in the lushness of nature as the depth of feelings found within a human heart. Jesal has always been drawn to making beautiful connections with seemingly disparate ideas. When a haiku juxtaposes two disparate images, out of the synergy jumps a new, nuanced meaning. If we look at urban existence, it is fraught with dissonance: the push and pull of expectations, the contradictions within roles, and also — unexpected, raw beauty. So, haiku and tanka seem to Jesal as perfect forms for expressing this fractured, beautiful ordinary life. Written from the perspective of a young woman, the poems in Tanpura’s Strum draw from the themes of love, heartbreak, loss, motherhood, the progression of time and nature. Set on a wide-ranging canvas of the natural world — beaches, forests and urban flora — as well as the domestic — cafés, homes and street life, the poems rest on nectar-like moments that make us feel most alive, impassioned and at other times soul-crushingly human.

Collects haiku, tanka, haibun, tanka prose and sequences from a variety of locations and experience.